Boise man sent to prison after exchanging explicit photos with Pennsylvania girl, 13

Kenton L. Flook, 45, was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in federal prison, after earlier pleading guilty to two counts of transfering obscene materials to a minor.

Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also sentenced Flook to seven years of supervised release and ordered that he forfeit computers used in commission of the crime.

Detectives with the Erie Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were notified in March 2014 by the mother of the 13-year-old girl that her daughter had engaged in sexually explicit activity with a man online.

The two had communicated since January 2014 using Internet chat programs. They exchanged nude photos with each other and masturbated while using a video chat program, according to court documents.

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Flook told the girl he was a 21-year-old baseball player who attended the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Using the name “Kevin Atton,” Flook said his father owned an airplane and the victim told police Flook planned to fly out to Pennsylvania in the plane on her birthday, according to the plea agreemtn.

Detectives determined that Flook established a Skype account, an Internet video chat program, while staying on business at an Idaho Falls hotel in February 2014. Flook, who worked as a regional sales representative for a Salt Lake City mattress manufacturer, registered the account using his work email address.

The FBI located Flook in Las Vegas while on a business trip in July 2014. He was told a search warrant had been served at his Boise home that morning and he admitted having repeated conversations with the victim in Pennsylvania. He told agents he and the victim had exchanged numerous photos, at least 300 in all, that showed each of them clothed and unclothed.

Flook told the agents he enjoyed talking with the girl because they “often talked in graphic language about sex,” according to a court document. He also admitted engaging in mutual masturbation while chatting with the girl on Skype.

Flook claimed he thought the victim was 18. The teen said she told “Atton” that she was 14 when they first began chatting.

When asked why he lied to the girl about his age and background, Flook said he thought the victim would be more comfortable talking with someone closer to her own age.

In a sentencing memo filed with the court, defense attorney Jeffrey McKinnie noted that Flook cooperated with investigators, admitted his guilt and that he underwent treatment after undergoing a psycho-sexual evaluation.

McKinnie submitted letters of support from Flook’s boss, his wife, parents and others who know him.